An Extra Push
by Bread732
Summary: What if Sakura wasn't so useless? What if she was as strong as Naruto? Now canceled.
1. Chapter One: The Challenge

Chapter One: The Challenge

"Team 7 will be Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, and Uchiha Sasuke!" said Iruka-sensei, assigning the teams.

"Great. Now I'm stuck with this loser who will get between Sasuke-kun and I." muttered Sakura to herself. How did he become a ninja?

After class, Naruto made his way for lunch, but heard Sakura call "Naruto!"

"What is it, Sakura-chan?" he asked. What was going on?

"How did a failure like you graduate from the academy?"

"I'm no failure! I'm the greatest ninja ever!"

"Please. You couldn't stand a chance against a real ninja like Sasuke-kun or me."

"I could beat Sasuke right now!"

"I'll beat you into a pulp."

"What the?" Sakura suddenly had 5 kunais headed straight at Naruto. He dodged and made a seal. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Another Naruto appeared, catching two of the kunais and throwing them back.

A puff of smoke went around Sakura, and she emerged covered in chakra. "Summoning Weapon Jutsu! Kuroiken!" An ominous sword chakra covered sword appeared, which Sakura used to deflect the incoming knives. She came at Naruto with it, slicing through his clone.

"Sakura-chan? What are you doing?"

"It's time to prove that you're a ninja. Can't take the heat?"

"Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" A hundred Narutos attacked Sakura, but whiped them out by the dozens. The one remaining Naruto threw his own fuuma shuriken at her. She dodged and stabbed through him with her sword, to see it was a clone, and was finished with a blow from behind. It was the real Naruto, who had transformed into a shuriken.

"How did you get so strong?"

"Same way as you I suppose." And that was that.

End of Chapter One


	2. Chapter 2: The Bell Test

Chapter 2: The Bell Test

**AN: This is really just the events of the actual manga. If you're reading this chapter and you get bored, skip to the next once it's on. In fact, I plan on the third being a duplicate, but it will be shorter than this if it is, and the fourth should be up soon after.**

"Hi, I'm Hatake Kakashi, I don't feel like telling you what I like. I have many hobbies" Said the sensei.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I like eating and trying ramen and dislike having to wait for it in the microwave. My goal is to become the next Hokage!" he declared.

"I'm Uchiha Sasuke. I hate most things, like few things, and wish to kill a certain person and revive my clan."

"Haruno Sakura! I enjoy training, I like... um... and anyway I hate... Naruto!"

"Meet me tomorrow early morning. And don't have breakfast."

"Glad to see you all here."

"You're 2 hours late!" exclaimed Sakura and Naruto.

"Forgot to set my alarm. Anyways, you have to take a test to become Genin."

"We already passed that!" replied Naruto.

"That was your potential. But if you fail this, you must be sent back to the academy. Test in 3... 2... 1... Go!"

The alarm rang, and Sasuke had just wasted his breath speaking to Sakura, who had been too distracted by a dying Sasuke genjutsu throughout almost the whole thing. "There's no point in going back to the academy." noted Kakashi.

"Do you mean?" asked Naruto "That all three of us can-"

"-QUIT AS NINJAS!"

"What do you mean?" asked Sakura. "Just because we didn't get bells?"

"Because all of you are just punks who don't deserve to be ninjas." Sasuke proceeded to attack him and fail miserably and Kakashi was at the moment holding him down. "That's why you're a punk. Why do you think you're in teams? What is the point of this exercise?"

"What do you mean?", Sakura responded.

"The answer to the test."

"Which is?"

"Geez."

"Just tell us already!" yelled Naruto.

"It's teamwork. Working together would have gotten you the bells."

"But there's only two bells!"

"That was to make you compete against each other. You were supposed to see past it and work together. Sakura, you only thought of Sasuke who was far away, but not Naruto who was next to you. Naruto! You were going off all by yourself. And Sasuke, you were just thinking the others would hinder you.

Individual ability is important, but not as much as teamwork. Going off on your own puts lives at risk. Like this: Sakura! Kill Naruto or Sasuke dies!" Naruto and Sakura had a moment of alarm before Kakashi said "See, tough choices are needed. In the shinobi world, you risk your life. On this stone is the villages heroes."

"That's what I want to be!" declared Naruto

"They're a special type of heroes."

"What type?"

"The type that died on the battlefield. This is a memorial. My own best friend in on this list. Have lunch and try again, but Naruto cheated," he was referring to Naruto trying to have lunch before the challenge was over, "so don't give him any. Give him food, and you fail." He tied Naruto to a log, and left.

"Here." Sasuke offered Naruto food. "I don't sense Kakashi, and we need Naruto in his best condition for the test."

Kakashi charged in. "YOU ALL!" The trio cowered in fear. "Pass. You're my first team to ever do so. They couldn't see underneath the underneath. Those who break the code of the ninja are trash, but those who don't help their comrades are worse than trash."


	3. Chapter 3: The Wave Mission

Chapter 3: The Wave Mission

**AN: This is just a quick summary of the events that stay the same so far.**

After a variety of boring missions, Team 7 was finally given a C rank to take the bridge builder Tazuna back to the Wave Country. However, they were attacked by Hidden Mist Chunin, and it was revealed that the Hidden Mist outlaw Zabuza was after them from the Gatoh Group. He was quickly disposed of by a tracker nin, and they proceeded to the Land of Waves, where they met Tazuna's sad grandson Inari.

Naruto had many conflicts with young Inari, who had befriended a man named Kaiza, who Gatoh killed. In the forest, Naruto met a very effeminate boy and then, with his team, learned about chakra control and its use in climbing trees. Zabuza revealed himself to be alive, and he and Kakashi had their final battle. At the same time, Naruto and Sasuke were fighting against the tracker nin, who turned out to be a fake working for Zabuza. He had just killed Sasuke, causing the Kyuubi inside of Naruto to rise up and fight him, revealing him to be the boy from the woods, who explained his story on Kekkei Genkai, and then told Naruto to kill him as he said he would.


	4. Chapter 4: The New Promise

Chapter 4: The New Promise

"Okay then; this is for Sasuke!" as Naruto charged at the fake hunter nin, Haku.

He suddenly dodged. "Wait Naruto. There is one more thing I can do for Zabuza-san." He then jumped between Zabuza and Kakashi's raikiri, only for Kakashi to get knocked away by Sakura.

"We have guests." she said. "It's for them.."

Gatou and a group of bandits appeared at the scene. "You're to expensive Zabuza, prepare to die! And kill a few on your way." Zabuza drew his swords and slashed his way through the crowd, Sakura covered his tracks, blocking all who tried getting a shot in, so that Zabuza could be more useful, as the outcome was inevitable. They would try to ransack the village. Zabuza got to the end and cut Gatou's head off.

"The boss is dead. We'll just have to settle for this village."

"No you're not!" came a voice. It was Inari leading the villagers "We're fighting back!" The theives ran.

"How were you able to see them coming?" asked Kakashi

"I used a substitute clone to guard Tazuna while I looked ahead."

Naruto was stunned by what just happened. Then Sasuke came in, and got glomped by Sakura. "That's it then." he looked at the wound on his hand. "My new promise to become stronger than Sakura. And I know just how." he went over to Zabuza. "I'm going with you."

"And why should I accept a mere child to join me?"

"He was capable of defeating me." said Haku

"He was? Perhaps we could use you."

"It's settled then." The three exited out of the village and left Wave Country.

"Well, I guess what happens happens." said Tazuna. "Now we just need a name for the bridge."

"How about?" Sakura began softly "The Great Naruto Bridge?"


	5. Chapter 5: The Chuunin Exam

Chapter 5: The Chuunin Exam

Life went on without Naruto, and Team 7 got a new member, Sai. Recently, they had entered into a Chuunin exam, but were currently held up by two guys who had the nerve to block entrance into the exam room 301, and were beating up on the team trying to get in. "This exam is tough. We've failed three times, and people have quit, people have died, we've seen it all. You think kids like you can pass?"

Sasuke spoke up. "You will let me pass. And take down that Genjutsu."

"So you noticed."

"Of course. Sakura, you must have also noticed. Your analyzing is best in our group."

"This _is_ the second floor." said Sai.

"Not bad, but you only saw through it!" One of the blocking ninja tried attacking Sasuke, only for one of the three injured Genin to block it.

'What the? He's completely stronger than he was before' thought Sakura.

"Their injuries are gone." said Sasuke.

"I'm Rock Lee. Wanna go out Sakura?" asked the one with the green jumpsuit and large eyebrows with a bowlcut.

"Um... no." They left, and the two blockers undid their henge and turned into two examiners.

"This exam will be fun."

After Sasuke finished fighting Lee, and them meeting up with an exam veteran named Kabuto, groups of Sand and Sound ninja, and their old classmates, they started the written exam under a strict examiner named Morino Ibiki with these rules: You start out with 10 points each, answering a question wrong costs you a point. The team as a whole scores. Cheating costs you 2 points. And finally, losing all ten points fails the entire team no matter what.

'These questions are too difficult' Thought Sasuke, using his Sharingan to copy someone else's pencil movements. Meanwhile, Sakura was filling them out, her rival Ino was cheating off of her, a sand ninja used a sand eye, Sai was using drawings that come to life, and much more cheating occured.

Lastly, there was the tenth question, which was to be revealed. "Here are the rules for the tenth question. You choose whether or not to take it. If you don't take it, you lose all of your points."

"Then why would we not take it?"

"If you get it wrong, you can never take the test again."

"But there are people here from before!"

"Unlucky for you, this year, it's my rules."

People started raising their hands to withdraw.

A voice came in "Don't underestimate me! I will not run! If I become a Genin forever, that will never change my dream! I'm not afraid." And Sakura looked to the direction of that voice and saw Naruto.

'He's back.' thought Sakura.

"This is your last chance."

No one moved.

"78 remaining. Good choice. All of you remaining pass the first test!"

"What about the 10th question?" asked Sai.

"That was it. The other questions were to test your information gathering abilities. We had planted a couple Chuunins who would know the answers already for you to start on. You have made it, and I wish you luck."

"Woohoo!"

A purple haired woman suddenly burst in. "I am Mitarashi Anko! Examiner for the second test!"

"You're early." said Ibiki.

"Whatever" said Anko.

'What an odd woman.' thought Sai

'She seems interesting' thought Sasuke 'I sense a lot of chakra.'

'She's an adult Naruto' thought Sakura, who turned her head back to make sure she hadn't been seeing things, and saw not only Naruto, but Haku a few desks back, both of them wearing Hidden Mist forehead protectors.

**A/N: Yeah, it might be following the normal plot for a while, but I'll try to make things different.**


End file.
